Bleaker

by Jacqueline Druga

  “You’re dropping off supplies?” Finch asked.

  “Yep, along with me. I kind of figured you could use my help. A full team is always best. I have a tiny bit, tiny bit of medical training. So…here I am.”

  “You just got here,” Finch said. “Your team. Quinn.”

  “I wanna try to go back, Finch, I do. You’ll have me?” Tucker asked.

  “Of course.”

  Sam approached.

  “You dropping off or staying?” Finch asked him.

  “Last I knew, you didn’t have an engineer or a co-pilot,” Sam replied, then looked at Curt. “Of course, no one can replace The Clutch.”

  Curt smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be great.” He shifted his eyes to Finch. “I feel much better knowing you have a trained co-pilot with you.”

  Finch leaned into him and whispered, “Me too.”

  “Hey!” Tucker poked his head out of the door. “I’m thinking since this is a new mission, we should be called Omni-5, what do you think?”

  With a tightly closed mouth, Finch shook his head.

  “Thought I’d ask.” Tucker slipped back into the ship.

  “You sure you’re ready for that guy?” Curt asked.

  “Um…” Finch glanced to the ship. “No.”

  He laughed about it but the truth was, he wasn’t sure he was ready for any of it. But his choice was made.

  He had approached the Androski dozens of times before going through. Getting there and returning to Earth wasn’t a problem, it was going through and the uncertainty that followed.

  There was one thing he was certain of, though, he had a good crew. Everyone had a job, and with the two extra crew members, it helped Finch feel more at ease.

  Although nothing was going to make him one hundred percent relaxed, he took comfort in knowing everyone on board was on the same page.

  As he stepped on board the Omni, waving his final goodbyes and closing the door, Finch tucked away his insecurities and worries and allowed the excitement to be forefront.

  <><><><>

  “Life support on,” Finch ordered. Already suited up, he placed on his helmet and secured it. Once he saw the others had done the same, he turned on the inter-suit radios. “Androski in range.”

  “Preparing for entry,” Sam said.

  “Everyone know what they need to do when we get through the other side?” He received their acknowledgements. Slowly he exhaled through his parted lips. “Here we go.”

  In those final seconds so much went through Finch’s mind. He kept thinking about what Tucker had said after liftoff.

  How they had to remember that the Androski was still a wormhole and Einstein theorized wormholes were doorways to other galaxies.

  Could the Androski suddenly toss them somewhere else and not to another time? Could they float in some black abyss, unable to return, unable to truly see the Androski to go back through?

  It was insane how his mind flipped through the thoughts as his heart raced.

  He was okay until that very moment.

  But it was too late to go back.

  At least he would get to see what it was like going through. The first time they lost all power and life support and the entire crew passed out.

  Not this time.

  Unless the ship somehow was crushed, Finch would see it all.

  They entered.

  The second they slipped in the ship went dark.

  A beautiful series of bright lights flashed around them. Finch was prepared at the controls, ready to face the large blue planet that would not only block their way but try to suck them into its field.

  “Sam, you ready?”

  “I’m ready. Five seconds…” Sam counted. “Four, three, Two…”

  They emerged.

  “Now,” Finch ordered.

  Sam powered up and almost as if he were on some sort of auto command, Finch veered the ship hurriedly to the left.

  But there was no reason to. Nothing was there. No blue planet, just a view of Earth in the distance.

  “What the hell?” Tucker said. “Taking off my helmet.”

  “Where did it go?” Finch asked.

  “It’s not here,” Sam said. “Did we go that far back?” He took off his helmet.

  “I see it,” Nate said. “There. Forty-five degrees.”

  Finch turned the ship. Sure enough, he finally saw the planet. It had not settled into the Earth’s orbit yet and was still at a distance where it looked no bigger than a soft ball. “Sam, how close was it when you left?”

  “Not that close.”

  “So we came through somewhere between you leaving and where we just left.”

  Nate chuckled. “That’s a span of a hundred and forty years.”

  “Maybe the ARCS haven’t left,” Rey suggested.

  “If they actually lifted off, we’re past that time,” Tucker said. “The Big Blue is closer than you think. You can’t really see Mars, it’s just a speck and that is sixty-million miles away. In your time you couldn’t even see the blue. When we left it was approximately thirty million miles away and moving steadily. At first it moved like a bullet. Then it slowed. It took a hundred and forty-five years to travel roughly twenty-nine-and-a-half million miles. That planet right there is well over half the distance. So if I was to make an estimated guess, we went back seventy or eighty years. Half the time frame since Omni left.”

  “Which means,” Finch said, “if the ARCS lifted off as scheduled, they left Earth fifty or so years ago.”

  “About that,” Tucker said.

  “Wait,” Nate interjected. “I just thought of something. Quinn is eight years off. He has to be.”

  “What do you mean?” Finch asked.

  “Well, he told us we left Earth a hundred and sixty-seven years earlier, right?”

  “Right.” Finch nodded.

  “How can that be?” Nate asked. “He said he and Genesis had been on the new Earth for twenty-five years and four months. He must have miscalculated somewhere how far into the future he was. If he said we arrived at Earth-167. Quinn would have arrived at Earth-142. How can that be?”

  Tucker snapped his finger. “You’re right. He wouldn’t have arrived in any time frame where the Androski wasn’t open. He had to have arrived around Earth-150.”

  “I can imagine the data may have been skewed,” Finch said. “Time, weather, I mean they searched for information. In the grand scheme of things what is eight years? A zero written on a piece of paper could have been mistaken for another number.”

  “Does it make a difference?” Sam asked.

  Tucker bobbed his head back and forth. “As far as growth goes, yeah, but I guess not.”

  “Stop.” Rey held up her hand forming a T. “So as not to be confused anymore, and for consistency, we just left Earth, what number?”

  Tucker looked at Nate as if to silently agree upon something. “Earth-175. So, we would roughly be around Earth-100 right now, give or take. Meaning right now it’s a hundred years after you guys originally left Earth.”

  “Which means, looking below,” Rey said, “it’s possible people are still down there, struggling.”

  “Would they still be alive?” asked Sam.

  “Yes,” Rey said. “There could be a lot of people down there.”

  “I agree,” said Finch. “Let’s orbit. Nate and Freeman, once we get into the atmosphere, focus on the scans as they come in. Look for signs of life, see if you can figure out what is going on, if things have changed. Sam, I need you to go into the navigational system, pull up the coordinates of the ARC launch sites, they’re in there. We’ll do a fly by when we orbit.”

  “Roger that, Commander,” Sam replied. “Any idea where you want to put us down?”

  “We have three states to choose from,” Finch said. “We’ll take our pick when we see the scans. Hopefully, that intel Quinn found was correct and Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah were barely hit.” He glanced over his shoulder. Nate and Tucker hustled to set up their stat
ion to monitor, but Rey didn’t say anything. She stared out the window. “Rey, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine, just…we left to find a new home for those on Earth. We arrived on Earth when everything was over. Somehow, I feel,” Rey said, “we’re about to land right in the middle of all the hell.”

  “Sadly,” Finch said, “I think you’re right.”

  <><><><>

  “Two, three, five…” Nate shook his head. “Too many storms to count in the pacific. But Hawaii is gone, Finch. Not there.”

  “Seas are insane,” Tucker said. “Though not as bad as when we left.”

  “Still seeing Australia,” Nate said. “Nothing on Japan, though. I don’t see it. It’s gone.”

  “Keep looking,” Finch ordered. “It’s darker on this side of the world. It could be the storms. We could have missed it. We’re clearing the storms now.”

  “It’s not there,” Nate replied.

  Finch looked over at Sam and saw his reaction. Sam had closed his eyes, taking in that information. “Sam, are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Fine.” Sam cleared his throat and returned focus to his screen.

  “Nate, keep looking. Sam anything on your end with the ARCs?”

  “Hunan Province ARC is not there,” Sam replied. “We’re not close enough to confirm Gansu or Tibet.”

  “But Hunan is not there?”

  “It is not there.”

  “Well, one ARC got off the ground. Cities? Anyone seeing anything on cities?”

  “We can zero on one,” Tucker said.

  “Do that.”

  “It’s dark,” Nate stated. “As you said it’s barely morning over here. There are no lights. No sign of power.”

  “We still have a lot of area to cover,” Finch said. “Let’s keep checking.”

  “Quinn said Europe went under first,” Rey said. “From what he read that seemed to be the kickoff, so if it’s still there, the world is not over. Not yet.”

  “What difference does it make?” Sam asked. “Can we do anything about it?”

  “If there is anyone left down there, yeah we can,” Rey said. “We can try. We know there are three safe states. Right now, they may not know that.”

  “It’s a lot of years, Rey,” Sam said. “Just saying, a lot of years. Almost a hundred since Tucker and I left. I’m not holding out much hope.”

  Rey nodded. He had a point. It didn’t matter though. They couldn’t just say, ‘well this is a bust let’s hit the Androski again.’ No matter how bad it was below, the ship needed to recharge and they had no choice but to land.

  SEVENTEEN

  The Omni flew on autopilot just as they finished the first orbit. Nate called everyone into the back to show them what he’d figured out with Tucker.

  “We have two hours of power,” Finch said. “Then we are out. So once we figure out where we are landing, I can turn around.”

  “You’ll be able to turn around shortly,” Nate said. “But I needed you guys to be informed first.”

  A twenty-inch monitor was before him and on it was a still image of the United States. “This is where we are,” Nate explained. “No cloud formation and we have a beautiful image. Now…” In the corner another image appeared. “This is Earth when Omni left. I call it Earth Zero.”

  The images then appeared side by side.

  “You can clearly see the difference.” Nate pointed. “Florida is no longer half gone. Like it was when we left. You can see the east coast is starting to expand and the southern west coast is slowly being swallowed, opening Nevada up to prime beach front property. Next image…” His finger clicked and another image appeared. He moved it to the right so that the current United States image was center. “This image is Earth one-seventy-five. One hundred and seventy-five years after we left. Big difference from Earth Zero.” He pointed to the image on the left. “But…If you look…” A few keystrokes and Earth-175 turned into an outline, and using his finger Nate slid it over Earth-100, the time where they were now.

  “Look at that, Sam,” Tucker said. “He has touch screen.”

  Nate smiled. “You’re funny. If you look at this, it’s about halfway to where we are now at Earth-100, right here and now. Therefore, nothing occurred overnight, which is a good thing and the reason that a lot of buildings remain. Had the shift or whatever occurred over the course of one year, no one would have been able to withstand it.”

  “How does it look now as far as life and so forth?” Finch asked.

  “There are segments of the country that look to me as totally overgrown, not the same at all. I’d say abandoned at least for twenty-five years.”

  Finch rubbed his chin. “Anywhere to land?”

  “Actually, yes,” Nate answered. “Tucker?”

  “You told us about the Wyoming, Utah, Colorado stuff so we concentrated on there,” he said. “Hey, Sam, watch as I pinch the screen and enlarge.”

  “You’re an ass,” Sam replied.

  Tucker enlarged the map of Earth Zero. “This is the area we focused on. And this is how it looks now…” He switched images to the same enlargement of the three states. “There’s lots and lots of overgrown areas. But look at this area north of Fort Collins…” He zoomed in even more. “There’s not a lot, but there, a farm. Unlike anything else in the area. Judging by this image, this farm is maintained. Small but maintained. Someone is there.”

  “And you’re absolutely sure,” Finch said, “it isn’t abandoned.”

  “It could be now, but I’ve been a farm boy my entire life. This farm has upkeep. It looks too perfect on this image.”

  “Good.” Finch folded his arms. “We have a destination. Sam, let’s turn the ship around. Nate, find us an area near there big enough to land,” he said. “Let’s get on the ground and find out what’s going on.”

  <><><><>

  Just like the sun that traveled east to west, the density of overgrowth lessened. Although, highly populated areas all around the country appeared to be the worst. Cities had been abandoned in the wake of disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and other events. Disasters with a magnitude no one could have ever predicted.

  Most highways appeared to still be intact. From the air they looked better than on the ground. The six-lane road South College Avenue served as a landing strip for the Omni. For the most part it was smooth. The few cracks that spouted growing weeds were barely felt under the massive weight of the vessel.

  Finch pulled the Omni into a strip mall parking lot. The few cars that remained were out of the way. It was open, with very few trees and plenty of ultraviolet light.

  There were no signs of people, nor did it look like anyone had been there for a long time.

  Tucker immediately did what he had done when the Lola landed. He checked out the sun, estimated the time and set his watch.

  It wasn’t early, in fact, by his estimate it was mid-afternoon. It didn’t leave much time for any charging the ship could do.

  While Sam and Finch prepared the buggy, and Nate transferred his map images to a tablet, Rey and Tucker walked the strip mall and looked in the stores.

  The entire place was weather worn. The bricks were cracked and chipped, the paint on the edges of windows and doors, peeling. Some of the signs had fallen and most of the windows were shattered, more than likely from age and the elements.

  A red four-door sedan was parked just outside of the first shop, a pizza joint.

  The car was parked across two spots and the hood was open. Inside the engine block a garden had started to grow. The doors were open; nothing or no one was inside.

  “Wonder if they broke down,” Tucker said, peeking inside. “Hope they got a ride.”

  “I don’t understand. What happened in this town?” said Rey. “I mean, it doesn’t look like earthquake damage.”

  “No, it doesn’t. Or a tornado or freak flood.” Tucker pulled out his small, rectangular light and walked to the wide-open pizza shop window. He shone the light in, movi
ng it left to right before stepping over the window edge and going inside.

  He held out his hand to Rey. “Watch your step.”

  She took his hand as a guide, until she stepped into the restaurant.

  It was a typical strip mall outlet. The restaurant was long and narrow. Ten feet into the place on the left was a counter that ran most of the length of the restaurant. A cash register sat at the beginning of it, plexiglass shields hanging down to the counter. Behind it were pizza ovens.

  The décor, from what Tucker could tell in the dim light, was dated. Black-and-white tiles covered the floor. The bottom half of the walls were some sort of wood and above the chair railings were mirrors, probably there to give the illusion that the place was bigger than it was.

  Weeds grew from the linoleum floor and crept up the counter by the register. A result of seed and pollen blowing in through the open windows. Only a few sections of the mirrors were broken.

  “No one left in a hurry,” said Tucker.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, everything is clean. No plates, food left out. I mean that area with the sneeze guard looks like where they put the pizza out for people to pick a slice. Nothing is there. This place was closed.”

  “In the back, look at the chairs.”

  Tucker moved the light and noticed two tables were disturbed. One had been turned over on its side with the flat side of the table facing out, and the chairs were toppled. “What the heck?” He stepped toward the table.

  “What is it?” Rey asked.

  Tucker ran his fingers over the table. “Bullet holes.”

  “Someone hid behind the table?” Rey asked.

  “Looks that way.” Tucker walked behind it. “No blood on the wall.”

  “How about bodies.”

  “If there were bodies, there wouldn’t be anything left. I mean those windows busted out from time. Over time the seal breaks, that takes a few decades.”

  “What about clothing?” Rey questioned.

  “Maybe.”

  “Well, check.”

  “Check for bodies?” Tucker asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Fine.” He walked around the table. “This is odd. No bodies but…”

  “What is it?” Rey asked, joining him. “What do you got?”